It was stupid, desperate, and perfect.
He didn’t get three feet.
I caught him by the throat and drove him backward into the wall. The impact cracked plaster behind his skull. My forearm pinned his chest. My other hand closed around his wrist before he could reach inside his jacket.
A small knife hit the floor.
Petya cursed.
Lev had the blade under his shoe before it stopped spinning.
Gennady’s eyes bulged. His hands scrabbled at my sleeve.
I heard Nadia breathe in behind me.
I didn’t look away from Gennady.
“You reached for her in my room,” I said.
He dragged in a thin breath. No words came with it.
“You reached after she told you no. You reached after every witness here heard you warned. You reached because men like you never learn from words.”
I eased pressure from his throat just enough to let him drag air.
He wheezed, “She isn’t worth this.”
I looked at him and felt nothing hot left in me.
“No,” I said. “You were never worth her fear.”
I stepped back.
My men took him before he could fall. One twisted his arms behind his back. Another stripped the rings from his fingers and dropped them into a glass dish on the sideboard with small, bright clinks.
The older Kask witness looked at the knife, then at Gennady. Disgust pulled at his mouth.
“We won’t defend this,” he said.
“No,” Mikhail said. “You won’t.”
Gennady thrashed once. “You Sorin bastards think this ends me?”
I turned to the older Kask man. “Does it?”
The man glanced at Mikhail, then at me, then at Nadia.
“It ends him in any room where my family still expects to breathe easily,” he said. “What remains will be handled.”
Gennady shouted, “She’ll always know what she cost!”
Nadia stepped forward before my hand could close again.
Her voice stayed steady. “I know exactly what I cost. More than you could afford.”
Gennady’s face twisted.
I nodded to my men.
